So here is where I was in HIGH HEAVEN! I just walked through this place in AWE!

Being the aspiring food photographer that I have become, I just couldn’t get enough of this part of our time at General Mills.

So here is 1 row of their prop room. Every color, size and shape of plate, bowl, placemat, silverware, pitcher and kitchen utensil can be found in this room. I wanted to take it, shrink it, and squeeze it into my storage room closets!!! Wouldn’t it be lovely to have this at my disposal when it comes time to take the dinner picture each night! (Can you sense the coveting???)

So after the prop room came the prep kitchen and photograph equipment. I’ll let the picture speak for itself.

See those cool white fill cards…I now have a few! I’ve been experimenting with them and having fun changing the lighting and shadows of my food picts.

So when they shoot the food pictures for their cookbooks, supermarket recipe booklets (like the one you see on the screen), the food stylists will pull off the “props” from the prop room that the photographers will use for that specific shot. So for this pot pie recipe book, they pulled off 2 shelves worth of props to have available for this shot. I find that simply astounding!

And last, we heard from a food stylist. She showed us some of the tools that she uses to make the food look perfect. And then she showed us how to cut the perfect brownie…2 inches x 2 inches!

1. Line you pan with foil, so that the entire brownie “block” will be strong and not crumble apart.

2. Measure with a ruler and mark with toothpicks.

3. Cut along the toothpick line and then move the whole brownie block to the edge of the counter and let it fall so the cut portion will come apart easily. Make the same 2 inch measurement and mark with toothpicks to cut the other side.

4. Photograph a perfectly 2 inch x 2 inch square brownie.

Then how to cut the perfect pie slice.

1. Use skewers over the COLD pie (pretend there is an apple pie there!) and make the 8 slices. Mark the corners with toothpicks and then cut from toothpick to toothpick. Why a COLD pie? A warm pie will run all over. For the purposes of photographing the pie, it’s better for it to be cold so the juices don’t make a mess! Of course, the pie can be reheated and served with ice cream and no one will ever know…except you!

I simply found the photography studios to be quite amazing!

I also wanted to share a few food photography tips that they shared with us:

1. Place the food so that natural window light is behind or to the side of the good to give the food beautiful and dimensional light.

2. Don’t allow direct sunlight to shine on your food when photographing it. Use a sheer curtain to diffuse the light.

3. Use the white fill card on the opposite of the natural light to help fill in the shadowy areas on the food.

4. Use a variety of camera angles when shooting food pictures. Typically a “3/4 view” is the most pleasing for food, but above shots and low camera angle can add cool artistic dimensions.